The win keeps Rossall at the top of Division One, having played four and won four so far this season.

Blackpool Hockey Club Men were left kicking themselves after failing to pick up a point with a 3-2 defeat at home to Winnington Park.

Both sides were under-strength but it was the visitors who made the most of their opportunities, racing into a 3-0 lead after 25 minutes after capitalising on Blackpool errors.

The home side finally kicked into gear and pulled one back before half-time through Simon Thomas after a well worked move involving Jordan Payne.

The deficit could have been reduced to one but for an excellent save denying James Smith in the closing minutes of the half.

Blackpool were much the better side in the second period as Winnington protected their lead with solid defence.

Despite the home side’s dominance, they lacked accuracy on with the final pass, and further opportunities came and went.

The breakthrough finally came, but it was the visitors who gifted Blackpool with the chance by being reduced to nine players, allowing Blackpool to flood players forward.

Debutant Joe Neath fired home from a tight angle to give Blackpool hope with 15 minutes left, but a painful last quarter of an hour had further squandered chances and allowed the visitors to cling on for a well battled three points.

Blackpool 2 continued their poor run of form with a 6-0 defeat at Leyland & Chorley’s firsts.

The match, however, was far more even than the scoreline suggests.

There was parity between the teams for the first 15 minutes, until Leyland won a short corner and were able to score with a neat set move.

They continued to pressurise the Blackpool defence and from another short corner the ball was fed back into the goal past keeper Toby Jeffery and struck Pete Latimer’s foot on the line, resulting in a penalty stroke which was converted to make it 2-0.

Blackpool became frustrated as captain Matt Atherton earned himself a green card for too much backchat to the umpire.

Blackpool did threaten Leyland at times, with Keiffer Earnshaw running at their defence with support from Dan Howe and Tim Wilson.

Blackpool somehow managed to concede four goals in the second half as Leyland took their chances, whereas Blackpool struggled in the latter third of the pitch.

The cause wasn’t helped by another green card for dissent for Matt Atherton and one for Tim Wilson for a reckless tackle.

It was another frustrating game for Blackpool but there are signs of improvement and three other teams within one point at the bottom of Division Four North.

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